While I was in Utah few months ago for the opening of the Church Art Competition at the Church History Museum it was exciting to see the breadth of art with religious themes increasing and the variety and scope becoming greater.
But the other day I found myself asking this question “Why don’t we (we meaning Mormons, myself included) create better art?” We can claim some very talented people, producing great things, but as a whole, our cumulative cultural pool of art still feels somewhat small and undeveloped.
My first question was… are we really trying? Are we passionate about it? Do we want to tell our stories and show in captivating ways what we think and believe? Are we willing to put in our all to become truly excellent in our pursuits?
I wondered what it is that sometimes seems to keep us from that point of excellence. Is it something in our culture?
Do we see the arts as simply an extra, something sort of superfluous, something at the end of a long list of higher priorities? Are we so practical that everything else come first? Is it because sometimes we tend to be literal, or cling to very traditional norms for fear of going outside the bounds? While everything we know of God points to endless creation and variety? The scriptures are filled with poetic language, abstractions, layers of meaning and metaphor. Most spiritual gifts and experiences are unique and abstract and communicate in personal languages that can’t be translated simply to others. Yet our art doesn’t seem to delve as deeply in these ways.
Is it that we tend to like everything too nice and neat? Do we come to every conflict always assuming that good will triumph? Mortality is filled with complexity, opposition, and emotion, they are integral parts of the plan.
How do we move beyond just being representational? I don’t just want a picture to nicely replicate something. I want an image or a story that conveys something powerfully with all the emotion and meaning tied to it. Art isn’t meant to simply be a copy, a place holder or pleasant reminder. Art has the power to dig deep in our memories and consciousness and influence us. It is meant to inspire, to gladden, to capture the powerful experiences of mortality and beyond.
We dream vividly at night and still I think we are hesitant to create in spaces of imagination and things that are from the mundane realities, to represent spaces and thoughts and other realms. We are afraid of immersing ourselves in the creative process because it takes us out of our comfort zone and can be a sort of absorbing place that seems somehow challenging to jive with the demands and expectations o our religious practice. Is it our discomfort with the larger community of art which generally has very few boundaries and well, frankly, the “artist lifestyle”? Besides being quirky, artists do have sordid historic reputations of bad behaviors.
I remember being asked once in an interview. If I found it challenging to be LDS and an artist, but my answer was no it was far harder to be a mother and an adult grounded in the real world who remembers to help her children study their spelling words and has dinner on the table despite a painting in progress.
Maybe these questions were just me critiquing myself and forcing myself to go deeper? But what are your thoughts?
An awful lot of the best art seems to be the product of souls in great pain.
The Gospel has a tendency to reduce the number of souls in great pain.
That's one hypothesis.
Another is that people capable of producing great art are fairly scarce, and the Mormon population is quite small in absolute terms. You just wouldn't expect that many prodigies out of such a small demographic.
I think you hit on all of it. This is especially true: "Mortality is filled with complexity, opposition, and emotion, they are integral parts of the plan." Good art pokes you where you're uncomfortable and most LDS people don't want to be poked.
Anything different is seen as bad, yet to be a good artist you need creative room to be different. Not different as in straying from the commandments but different in how we view the world, and express ourselves. There is a generally suspicious attitude about the world (and anything beyond representational art is seen as worldly) – if we don't understand it, there could be nefarious purposes so it's better to just keep clear.
There is also an issue of resources. Our time and money are tied up in our church service and the raising of large families which leaves little for the pursuit of art.
Something I have found that can overcome these things is an art community. While in Utah I never quite found it, too many artists competing for too few supportive dollars. Only now that I'm in Iowa of all places have I found a fellow artist that is supportive and encouraging, showing me unconditional love in the art world. His example of devotion to art and the gospel, reaching out to the world to share his art is an inspiration. He's showing me that there is a path for the LDS artist. His work is representational and filled with symbolism. http://www.dickshook.com
(Hope you don't mind the promotion for him, but if we're talking about expanding the LDS arts then we need to promote it!)
I see your point, although I don't completely agree with it.
There are some great artists from our demographic. I consider the following artists to be masters of their trade:
James Christensen
Walter Rane
Greg Olsen
Del Parson
With this in mind, I disagree with your assessment of LDS art. There are amazing paintings out there that evoke emotion, portray a story in compelling manner, and display a mastery of technique.
I do however agree that the Church art shows themselves seem to be lacking in artistic excellence at times. Perhaps it's because our worldwide membership interprets 'art' differently in different cultures.
Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder.
Vader- interesting thoughts on pain. I do think great art is often created out of tension. There is something cathartic in the process or working through and generation of something, But i ask myself could art be created out of equally strong positive emotion? Or does that emotion yield a different kind of energy.
and yes it is a question of math numbers too…but look at our disporportionate balance of music vs visual arts talent?
Jendoop- It is interesting that i have to say sometimes the most awkward comments i get about art are from LDS people so i do think sometimes we breed a wierd discomfort that if you dont have a strong sense o purpose might squash peoples efforts. I am glad you are finding a good community- collaborating and sharing is such a part of art.
Renae i- i think you may have misread my intent. i do think there are great LDS artists (some of whom i am lucky to call friends) and great art. I think the chruch art shows- are fabulous and getting better and better. I love ot see diversity in medium and interpretation. i just think we dont have enough. I think we are moving int he right directions but we have more work to do. There are many aesthetic lens by which to judge good art. Art that speaks t you is good art. My personal love is contemporary art vs more classical work, and i dont think we've wholly embraced that yet.
A remember having lots of conversations about this sort of thing in college–one hypothesis that we came up with was similar to Vaders: a lot of great art (visual and literary) is born out of a search for answers: who are we, what is our purpose here as humans, etc. For Mormons, a lot of those pressing questions are answered in doctrine, so perhaps we don't have as compelling a search? That said, I think there still *are* lots of good questions to work out.
I also think there are several LDS artists doing some amazing work, so I think the potential is there for real greatness. I suppose the other question is: what do you mean by "great" art? Are we simply talking visual fidelity and expression(as Renae's list suggests) or something more complicated?
Rosalyn- Yes- That is one o my thoughts too, we have such a literal sense of where we came from where we are, where we're going (when in atc the details of all those are a bit vague) that we do come with a certain more defined path.
I think what i want is that something more. Art that is life changing and powerul and dynamic- thatsticks in yoru brain, and changes you… and not just in visual arts in every genre of art…Oh maybe this is because i am planning a trip to the Met and the MOMA this weekend 😉
I think 3 things stand in the way.
1. It is the easier task translating pain or sorrow or hard emotions into art well (in similar agreement with previous comments) perhaps because those emotions are evoked by more things that we can all relate to or imagine, but it takes a fantastic amount of skill and practice to translate contentment/joy/peace into art because we are all brought to those emotions in very diverse ways.
2. Our positive emotions and beliefs about religion are intensely personal, and I think we try and make our LDS art accessible to the LDS group as a whole — or in an effort to evoke strong emotion (mostly from tender-hearted mothers') — which can ultimately result in art that is cliche, overbearing, cheesy, and/or simply bland
3. It is hard to give the sacred personal parts of ourselves over to the scrutiny of others.
1 & 3 could be generalized beyond the LDS church, but are still unique to the LDS church in that we find joy in ways that are rather unique, and our definition of sacred is perhaps unique as well.
We have been doing really awesome in the Children's Book art creation domain though! (No, I am not referring to Stephanie Meyers)
I think that some of the blame lies at the feet of the consumers and the market. Most active members feel like they are done once they have a temple and a picture of Christ, perhaps some cute message in vinyl letters. If there are these kind of artists out there where would they sell their work? Not at Utah art fairs which cater to a different crowd, not at church bookstores. Forget the fact that if they live outside Utah (maybe CA) not any hope of exposure to the greater LDS market. It would be great for the bloggernacle would expose them if they exist.
Renae clearly misses the point about representational art vs. interpretive/conceptual.
Btw, great post on a topic that I have thought about many times as well.
I absolutely agree that we need to create better art. I am an art historian (Ph.D) in St. George, Utah. There are a few big issues that I have with LDS art. The major LDS painters work in a realist style (definition by Homer Simpson: "art that looks like what it looks like"). I think this is really limiting. Also, I think that we need to give up on paintings of Jesus with sheep. They are tacky and kitsch. Yes, I just wrote that. I'm sure many of you will disagree with me, but so much or LDS art is overly sentimental and generic. Where are the cutting edge and avant garde LDS artists? Can we stop dressing models up in bathrobes (to look "biblical") and start representing contemporary subjects in the gospel with contemporary people using contemporary styles?
That was meant to be "of LDS art"
@Nancy, Kitsch does not have to be overly sentimental or generic. See the works of Helen Knoop http://heleneknoop.com/ which she describes as "pure kitsch". They are stunning works of figurative art.
@Kirsten, these are not religious works of art. In my opinion, they do have a generic sentimentality and they are not stunning. Again, I think that LDS art needs to break with realism and find new modes of expression.
laurenkri- yes we might be too self protecting, self preserving, less willing to open ourselves to scrutiny,
gas- yes- getting good art to the masses can be challenging. I we dont support it with our wallets in all practicality it won't get made.
Nancy R- Amen ! yes when i think of gospel concepts my thought is liken it to me now,what does it mean in day to day modern messy mortality, not an automatic return to scripture times. I would love to see that play down more- both in time, setting, style… everything. Start at the genesis of ideas not looking around at everyone else and doing something similar. i think we're on the same page.
Kirsten- its interesting to see what various artists are doing and their descriptions and motivations in their work.
I'm with Gas. The more I learn about Mormon art, the more I find that is beautiful, passionate, and challenging. But original works are expensive and you have to have a large consumer base to make it economical to create high quality prints or other types of reproductions at a lower price point. Most consumers aren't willing to put art in their homes that is more aesthetically challenging than a picture of the temple and a portrait of Jesus (Caucasian-looking, please). And that attitude is not that surprising when you consider consider that we worship in drab, functional meetinghouses which all seem to be furnished with the same 10 art reproductions.
I'm also going to throw a challenge back at you, Leslie. Are you doing your part to familiarize yourself with contemporary Mormon art? How many other artists can you name whose work was featured in this year's international art competition? Have you acquired any of their prints or reproductions?
Katya- I disagree in terms of cost/accessibilty. In the past print runs required large runs, and were expensive up front and required established distribution outlets but with current technologies and internet they are ways for much more accessibility.
I think we take our cues too much from what we see in meeting houses etc. But then again i think too many people decorate their houses by going to a store and just picking out some nice safe housy things that fit a given palette to hang on a wall, vs designing space to be about things they feel passionate about.
RE, my critique was not of the show- the show is fabulous- you may have missed my comment earlier about moving in the right direction… As an artist with a piece in the show, I could name at least a couple dozen of the artists there 🙂 and details of their pieces and style. I do own prints and am about to own a delicious original piece by artists there.
This was as much an act of self critique questioning, and asking I am playing to safe? Am i holding back? am I trying to make art of the caliber could one day be at the MOMA?
Is anyone lighting a fire under us (as a community of artists), asking for more, expecting more, I doubt there are many artist out there who wouldn't love to feel that push from the larger community to explore and go deep, and really be creative, rather feeling tugs in the opposite direction.
I teach in an art department with a very prominent LDS artist and I can tell you that he is teaching his students, many of whom hope to be religious artists someday, to do what has already been done, not to be challenging in subject matter or style, that the most important measure of art is whether or not it looks real. We seem to have built up a culture of not critiquing priesthood holders and so it is hard to make these critiques publicly.
Interesting discussion, it's about pushing ourselves to greatness.
I had an religious art history professor at BYU who challenged me to paint the LDS version of Christ breaking the captives free, entering spirit prison to establish missionary work there during the three days between his death and resurrection. There are many scenes and aspects of the gospel that haven't be portrayed or have only been portrayed in one way. I'm excited to see more contemporary visions emerge as we push and encourage ourselves to the next level in much the same way that The Lower Lights have changed the LDS music scene.
I couldn't create a piece of art to hang on even my bathroom wall to save my life. But I can color well. :o)
I'd love to own an impressionistic painting of Christ, but haven't found one yet.
I have been blessed with some artistic talent, but have felt less passionate about pursuing it as I get older with a growing family. I have wondered about this in the past year- spent quite a bit of time pondering creativity and individual expression. What I have realized for myself is that I have moved from the material to the purely emotional/spiritual in my creative efforts. I occasionally get the itch to paint or to dance and especially to write- to express something within, but more often now, I find even greater fulfillment in creating spiritually- such as creating a feeling of peace and love in my home, or creating an environment for learning and growth for my children. These efforts require every bit of my creative powers right now, and bring even greater satisfaction (when I succeed) than I ever felt from my artistic expressions.
Of course I can only speak for myself, but I do wonder if there is a similar gravitation among LDS artists that is at the root of the dearth you speak of. A shift of focus, perhaps. In fact, your final comment in this article hits the nail precisely on the head for me. While great art, of every genre, is a beautiful part of life, and will always speak to my heart, it is no less creative, and (dare I say?)quite possibly more creative to be a truly engaged mother, wife, daughter, sister, or friend.
Being a cultural clod and also being trained as a historian I have a limited, but biased assessment of Mormon Art. The closest I can come to a comparison is with Soviet Realism.
Specifically, it seems to have three general components. It is optomistic, for example there i usually a loving Christ, not Christ suffering on the cross. It is realistic, I've never seen a neo Rothko or Motherwell. It does not challenge the accepted norms, no Dadaism allowed.
The one thing that is missing is that I've never seen a young man fall in love with his tractor in Mormon art.
Seriously, It appeares that we limit ourselves rather than having something like a soviet realism forced on us. Why we do this In great part comes from the psychology of being Mormon. Would you expect ground breaking art from men who only wear white shirts on Sunday and women who have a hole for only one set of earings?
I don't have a lot that is deep or intelligent to add to this conversation, except to say that MAN! I do dream creatively. REALLY creatively.
🙂
Oh, probably for the same reason there isn't enough magnificent Seventh Day Adventist art, or Atheist art, or deist art, or animist art, or Buddhist art, but there is a lot of mass market, and pastoral art by Seventh-day Adventists, Atheists, Deists, Animists and Buddhists: First, producing outstandingly good art requires, in most cases, lots of good training, hundreds of hours of work and a fair bit of natural inclination. The vast majority of us human beings have not enough of one or more of those. Secondly, no matter what your religious background, if the art you create is not widely appreciated by anyone at all, you will have an extremely hard time supporting yourself and/or your family with your art. Third, if that is the case, you'd better also know how to make mass media art to put food on the table.
But, I must say that, though I don't particularly like most mass media or pastoral art and I enjoy the ability to pay for and have good original art on my walls I take umbrage with the notion that all mass media art or pastoral art as sold in stores and gift shops is "not great". Different people are inspired and moved and instructed by different types of art. Not all people will find the same power and excellence in a piece that you do. And they will often find power and inspiration in art that you find cloying.
It is easy to be dismissive of art that does not sing to you and to think that because there is not as much of the kind that you find great as you would like there to be, that what there is, is not as worthy.
That, I think, is a mistake.
So, yes, there is always call for more great art than there is available in the world and also, each thoughtful, dedicated artist makes contributions. But not all that they produce will sing to your soul. They will sing to someone else. And it is wise to appreciate that the reality and power of that song in those cases is as valid as your art's is to you.
I have a few thoughts here.
There is a difference between LDS people who happen to be artists and LDS artists. I am an artist and I know many LDS artists. Although I have shown work at the Church Art Exhibit and have had a piece purchased by the church, I do not work in scriptural or church history themes, nor do I market myself to an LDS market.
I do, however, feel like my work is a missionary tool to teach people about my life, and the gospel. But, living in the Midwest, a portrait of Helaman's Stripling Warriors (however great) would not get me in many doors. I have an exhibit hanging right now with a portrait of my daughter in it and I have had many people tell me how it moved them to tears. You can see it at http://amosthefamous.blogspot.com/2011/12/portrait-of-molly.html if you want. If you look closely at the background, you can see my testimony. This is how I am an LDS artist, even though I probably will never be considered such by any establishment, such as it may be.
And thought number two….I have had to realize that art (and bad art) is a matter of taste. I have a somewhat Impressionistic painting of the Salt Lake Temple on my living room wall. It has a lot of hot pink in it. I love it. When my mother in law visited, she said it looked to her like the temple was on fire and that it was horribly irreverent. I have tried looking at the painting with her eyes and I just don't see it. To me it is a building that I love and revere–done in pretty bright colors. I have had to learn to give people their space with their art. And maybe loving Soviet Realism is a step on the way to loving and appreciating something more.
One more thing. If you want to support LDS artists, please look around your ward. I bet you don't even know who paints, who sculpts, who stitches (like me)–we tend to hide that talent a bit. We have lived all over the country and there have been professional artists in every ward and branch we have attended. In my small Iowa branch there are no fewer than four professional artist. And even as an artist myself, it took me years to find that out.
As a musician, I love discussing great art/artists, our responsibility to use our talents and to be a light to the world, and all of that. There is so much to say about this. But today this is what I want to say:
IT'S SO HARD TO DO IT ALL.
Or maybe:
IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO DO IT ALL.
I'm struggling with this very dilemma right now: how do I balance my responsibility as an musician with my responsibility to my family, my other relationships, the cleaning of my home, my church callings, my piano students, the #*$&#&! weeds in my backyard? When I say I'm struggling, I mean I feel guilty when I'm practicing, but I feel guilty when I'm not practicing. I've had many instances that the spirit has let me know that I am supposed to be enlarging my abilities, but it's next to impossible to enlarge my abilities when I can only eke out an hour a day four or five days a week because somebody or something always needs me more.
There are times and seasons to life, of course, and I know that as my children go to school full time I will have more time, but I assume that many, if not most, female artists struggle with these same dilemmas. (Male artists do, to some extent, of course, and I'm not trying to be sexist, but in my experience, women take the brunt of the necessary daily work in a home.) Would I be further ahead as a musician if I had chosen not to have a family? Probably. Would I switch lives? No, no, no. But being a wife and mother HAS affected my ability to learn, to grow, to improve.
And my other thought? As the internet has given us more broad exposure to each other (I've loved looking at the websites already posted in these replies…I'd never heard of any of these artists! So fun to see new art!) and as costs of reproduction decrease in many of the arts (photography, visual arts of all kinds, and music composition), I believe there is and will continue to be an explosion in those who make art important in their daily lives. There will be more mediocre art, for sure, but we can also hope there will be more amazing art.
“Why don’t we create better art?”
Because we don't use drugs?
I had a student last semester in my Arts and Humanities Writing class that addressed the same issue. She argued that it used to be that religious art was at the forefront of artistic expression (ie Michelangelo, etc) but then secular art and sacred art split on an evolutionary course.As secular art pushed into abstraction, religious art–still trying to be representational–was left behind because it was afraid to question, or to leave the viewer feeling uncomfortable. It was an interesting thesis.
That said, I think there are (and have been) several notable Mormon artists. From the past, I am always astounded at the work of Minerva Teichert. I'm a huge fan of Brian Kershisnik. I am touched every time I stand before his piece "Nativity" in the BYU Museum of Art. It is a whole new take on Christ's birth. I also love the work of Elspeth Young and how she brings the women in the scriptures out of the margins and into the center of the stories. I also enjoy Ron Richmond's modern and minimal interpretations of the atonement. Look at his piece "Exchange #8" if you want to think about the mercy seat. I think more amazing, ground-breaking Mormon art is coming. It really depends on what you see, and what you consider to be "Mormon" art.
Shameless plug: there's a lot of good art on the covers and in the pages of Dialogue. You can see it at dialoguejournal.com, and we're working to get links up to artists' websites, etc.
I took an art readings course at BYU and we discussed this very subject. As well as what defines "Mormon Art". If you are a Mormon artist does that mean you should be confined to only representing yourself in religious terms? Aren't you also human? Don't you also grapple with the same struggles and difficulties the rest of humanity has? Yes we have the fullness of the gospel but that does not free up and define every moment of our lives. I've thought about the idea that great art is born out of turmoil and pain and I think there is still plenty of pain and doubt when you are trying to live by faith even if you manage to do it fairly well and/or your personal life isn't torn into shreds. I think it is oversimplifying things if we say that b/c we have the big answers to the big questions that there is not enough pain and turmoil left to be expressed in art.
Along with my readings class, in my other drawing/painting courses at BYU they did NOT want us to do what had already been done before or to make a mirror image, but to say something, to express ourselves. But at the same time, as young students, we were still expected to master the ability to render realistically what was in front of us so we could THEN diverge from it, otherwise it would be like to trying to write a book before you could legibly write the alphabet.
The church is worldwide and yes there are similarities no matter where we go (white shirts and ties and one set of earrings) but I think there are WAY more differences (especially as you get outside of Utah) and plenty of room for ground breaking art. I think there are as many possibilities for this as there are people–so why doesn't it happen more often? One reason may be the fact that our culture/religion is still pretty young as far as movements go so we have not had the time to generate a base of great art/artists to draw from while at the same time we have had to expend a lot of effort (especially in the very beginning) just to survive–both as a church and even now as individual families with the many demands of church and family and making a living. It is HARD to find the time–as Kerri pointed out. And as MB said " producing outstandingly good art requires, in most cases, lots of good training, hundreds of hours of work and a fair bit of natural inclination. The vast majority of us human beings have not enough of one or more of those." I know when I started out I had lots of time and inclination but now that I have a large young family I have lots less time and my inclination has changed. I use my creative drive and energy for different things (cake decorating, solving problems creatively, decorating my house, etc.) than when I was in college faced with a blank canvas.
I don't get it. I think we do.
Interesting post and very interesting comments. I think the one thing we can learn here is that we all can agree to disagree. One person's masterpiece is another person's garbage, and vice versa.
I would say I am very opinionated about Mormon Art. Something about the fact that so much of it is painted FOR a Mormon audience to sell, rubs me the wrong way. Paint what sells, for heaven's sake, or you won't go anywhere. Yikes. And yet, I've actually seen women tear up in RS describing a print they just love. To each his own. I just don't get it. Let me see what you're thinking. Let me see the thought, the pain, the amusement, etc. of life.
I find it interesting that we have become so vanilla. Temple picture – check. Jesus picture – check. Some Deseret Book tchotkies (sp?) – check. And, you're done. You've done your part to support the arts in Mormon land. Wrong.
We all need to become more acquainted with art overall. Maybe those who know something about it should share their knowledge more in RS or other settings. Let's start a discussion. Let's share more. Go support young up and coming artist shows. Go to museums. Learn more. Educate better. That is the only way change will happen.
Leslie, you know how much I love your passion for creativity and art and excellence and how you are able to find a place in your life for your art alongside your passion as a wife and mom and more.
But I confess that this topic in general gets under my skin a bit.
A few thoughts:
– I feel like to create art to somehow fill an external 'need for better art' is the wrong reason to create it. I think true inspiration and passion should be at the root of it. And that includes the right timing and season in someone's life to create it. Now may not be that season for many artists.
– I wish there was more of charity in it all. Art fills different needs for different people. One person's "kitsch" may be another person's inspiration. I feel like often in the press for 'better' art there is a divisiveness that can hurt the spirit of creativity and community. This divisiveness is something I have felt as a consumer…that somehow I'm 'less than' because what resonates with me and has impacted me isn't 'good' enough for others' tastes.
– I personally feel like art for money as primary motivator can hinder the creative process. Along those lines, once you blame *consumers* for a lack of good art, I feel like the love of art as an expression and inspiration first and foremost is hindered. In short, I am not a fan of the "pull" model of consumers driving the creative process.
– I love the thoughts from a couple of people here about the power of creation taking place in simply living life and creating in daily ways. I'm reminded of C.S. Lewis' The Great Divorce. e.g., "Ink and catgut and paint [are] necessary [on Earth], but they are also dangerous stimulants. Every poet and musician and artist, but for Grace, is drawn away from love of the thing he tells." I think maintaining this true love of God and truth as motivator for creating art is key to 'better' art. But much of this art may never be seen or 'consumed' by others. And that's ok, too.
@Nancy r. That is too bad, while classical styles and continuation of those have a place, art would never progress if that was all we taught or encouraged.
Jendoop- yes I think you got my point, its about digging deeper into our sort of subconscious a prior assumptions and seeing if things there are unnecessarily holding us back some. Greatness, yep, we all need to be fired up more!
Strollerblader-color on
Bth- it would be nice if art you found to be religiously significant also matched your tastes in terms of style… hopefully one day
Tricia- yes we actively often choose to spend our emotional and creative resources elsewhere, mine have been quite consumed teaching early morning seminray the last four years. But if we think of it like a job, we have alot of great lds business people, teachers, dr, lawyers, but less so i think artists? Hmm
Stan I do think you hit a key thing, which was what i realized is …we limit ourselves. Period.
Jenny dream on!
MB- I am the first to argue art from many aesthetic lenses, mass market, etc. They have places from many standpoints, familiarity, cost, etc. I have no problem allow others to have very different opionions on art, no attempt to be dismissive, but rather to question are we doing our best work? Others loves and tastes are just as valid as mine. The beauty of art is creating unique things, but like any other field that demands progress, be it science or technology, I wish we employed that same energy or demand on artists.
Amos yes support your local artists,- and i love to see people stand and defend their artistic decision with the same conviction of good with critique. And yes I am talking about two things.. having even better art with religious themes or motivation and two as a people being better artists in the art world.
Kerri- time and resource demands are huge, and yes being a woman and full time mother I often wonder what it wld be like to create when it was your livelihood under a typical provider paradigm where your energy investment and consistency was different. But yep that's not what I am choosing in this season.
Bradley but surely our refreshment consumption should yield soemthijng, that much sugar has to have some power.
Lisa interesting theory form your student. Yes those are great artists. Imagine if there were another thousand artist each with their own style and flavor of that caliber. How
amazing.
Kristine- thanks for helping given more attention in the direction of the arts, encouraging and cultivating it is what its all about.
Ana- yes we still have more than enough struggle to work from, but i think we sometimes short circuit ourselves with the "it all works out" bandaid instead of really expliring the depths or mort a experiences and the hopes of a more exalted one. Yes we need both the skills to be technically proficient and the creativity to expand more conceptually. And yes, ahh time, can I have more please oh and energy too.
Lo- I always want more of good things, its just my nature.
Magpie- yes, learn more, develop more, share more, amen!
Michelle – I don't think the motivator should be to create great art, it has to come from a place and desire inside, but its a larger question self critique, are we really tapping our deepest abilities, or do we let fear of failure or risk get in our way.
I think many artist sometimes feel torn between bread and butter projects and other ideas that hide in the corners asking to be explored. I do think we can create for a place of faith that many people don't care from but the question is are we doing it? Are we trying? What does that look like?
Most of what I would say has already been said here. A couple things about the representational v/abstract –
How are we measuring great art? By the world's standard or by the Lord's? Because I think those are different. What is the Lord's standard for great art? That's a big question, but maybe I can posit a couple guidelines..
I don't think it's fair to throw all realist art under the bus.. nor is it fair to toss away all abstract art. There is good and bad art in both styles. The idea struck me, it's like the difference between the writings of Isaiah and Nephi. Both are excellent and approved by the Lord.. and we can gain a TON from both. They are styles and proceed out of the natural personalities of the writers, enhanced and guided by direction from the Spirit..
I do believe that abstract art – like the writings of Isaiah, is going to be difficult for people to connect with and therefore to be moved by. If the audience can't make heads or tails out of what you've done, how are they supposed to form an emotional connection?
In a similar vein, I recently read a lot of the old testament – and there are chapters of text that are packed with images – in Ezekial, Hosea, Amos.. is what I just went through (I'm teaching seminary).. and I'm sure it's important, and even beautiful – but I understood a miniscule amount. So as a result, it means almost nothing to me at an emotional level. I have a hard time appreciating it. That's the danger with abstraction.
By the same token – if the emotional connection seems forced, the work seems preachy or even manipulative.
I'm a realist painter, and GOOD realist art is what moves me.. but I agree most of LDS art leaves me very unimpressed – even most realist art being done today. Much of what I see marketed in the bookstores is over-rendered, edges are too tight and it has no real atmosphere, little thought is given to the color pallette because all the artist was concerned about was copying his model correctly..
Everything looks staged and fake – too perfect for reality. There's not a speck of dirt or grime anywhere..
To do realist art really good (Carl Bloch) takes serious training and years of passion – it's a quest. That learning can be found today.. but you have to search for it.
Tom Wheeler
art.wheelercreek.com
Wow, so much to say about this post. I understand what you are saying and feeling. As an artist, mother, and Mormon, there are definately times when my soul longs to marinate in the emotions that come with creating a beautiful and meaningful piece of art. However, my mantra has always been "there is a season for all things". Part of the more beautiful and masterful creativity comes from reigning in our passions so that we can focus on our children and family life. After all, when tangible beauty has decayed, the souls of our precious children and the relationships we carefully sculpted over a lifetime of creativity with manifest eternally. I am in no way criticizing those artists who bring us such amazing works and run a family. Not at all. Heavenly Father has given each of us so many diverse talents and missions here on earth. However, I have no doubt that there are superb creations that we will never view because their creator decided to focus his/her efforts on something of more eternal and lasting consequence – something that may not glean the respect of society or adoring fans, but something that will make a much more profound impact in the long run. Ultimately, any great masterpiece of work comes with a sacrifice. I believe that is part of our mission here on earth, deciding which dreams we will pursue and which dreams we will sacrifice. In the end, I believe that if we are true to our heart's desire, there will be a season to see all of our talents manifested.
Culturally, We do not celebrate art. We've been using the same pictures to illustrate our lessons since the 70s (possibly earlier) and decorating our meetinghouses with the same pitures. It's a rare chapel that has anything of beauty in it beyond a few dusty flowers. The only part where the arts are displayed are the paintings and windows of our temples. I suppose at visitors centers there are often statues, but I haven't been a place with statues in years.
The only exception where there seems to be an attempt to share beautiful art are the Ensign and lds.org.
The absence of incorporating new artwork seems to discourage anyone from attempting to fill the niche. Sure the art competition may make motions to encourage artistic endevors, but what ever becomes of those creations beyond a feature in the Ensign?
If you haven't already read this, this is a great commentary on Spencer W. Kimball's Gospel Vision of the Arts talk. The commentary is written by J. Kirk Richards, an LDS artist who has a more modern approach to religious artwork (One person commented above that they had never seen an abstract/impressionist painting of Christ. Kirk's website is loaded with them, at http://www.jkirkrichards.com). His article is at the link below:
http://jkirkrichards.wordpress.com/2012/05/27/my-thoughts-on-spencer-w-kimballs-gospel-vision-of-the-arts/
I just finished reading all these comments and my brain is spinning. There is not much I can add to this dialogue but as someone who has made "art" his entire life, I can say art is not driven by money but by passion. I paint and draw because I'm an art junkie. If I stop working even for a short time, say a month, my mental health deteriorates. The line between being an artists and madness is very thin. Another question is what is illustration versus what is art? You have to decide which artwork is which one.
I never look to see if a finished painting is a great masterpiece. I just ask myself if it is the best I can do and is it honest. Non-representational or representational artwork are the same. All art is abstract because it is created by the eye, brain and hand of a person. Neither style is reality. How you react to a piece is valid for you. Viewing artwork is subjective. There is no opinion that is right or wrong. It is just what you honestly feel even if it is just confusion.
Yes by all means, look at the artwork of J Kirk Richards, David Edward Linn or Brian Kershisnik. Look at my art at larryogan.com, I'm still struggling to find my voice in the area of LDS/ Religious art. Just look at Art!
Just wanted to say I loved Tom's and Zoe's comments.
When I first started abstract painting on LDS themes I felt very alone and began sort of a desparate search for others that had the same passion. What I discovered is that the artists are there, but the general LDS community does not seem to know it.
One challenge I have found is that as our culture values hard work and detail, we may under-value abstract work that is minimalist. Someone might look at a minimalist LDS work (as they do many in the MOMA) and say, "I can do that!" and maybe they could copy it quite easily, but the value of the original artist is that he or she thought of it first!
"I can say art is not driven by money but by passion. "
I suspect this is the case for most artists, so I worry that my comment may have come across wrong. If so I apologize. It's just that I've heard enough people complain about Mormons and their spending habits that I wanted to put that in there. Let Mormons spend as they will. Please don't stop creating for the sake of creating. My motto is more along the lines of "If you share it, they will come." And the "they" will be those for whom your work speaks. If yours doesn't, someone else's will.
And I do hope that people have taken the time to look at the International Art Competition submissions. You can vote for the ones that resonate most with you. I'm not an artist, but I saw a lot of variety when I looked at it and I've appreciated the chance to both look online and to see the works in person when I've been able. Like Leslie said, this competition is helping to encourage artists to reach and stretch. But I do think we as members can do a better job sharing and talking about these things. Just because the Gospel Art kit hasn't been updated for a while doesn't meant the Church isn't trying to encourage continued creativity and expressions of faith.
This is a topic I have thought about a lot- I think there is a definite lack of sophistication about art in our culture. Just look at the butchering the Dec Ensign did to Bloch:
http://www.dovesandserpents.org/wp/2012/05/on-immodest-angels/
I'm hoping that things are improving: Annie Henrie and J. Kirk Richards are even showing up in Deseret Book, so there is hope.